


Fate's Gamble

by overkill_max



Category: Terminator (Movies), Terminator: Dark Fate
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, F/F, Fluff and Smut, Late 1800s, Smut, Yukon/Gold Rush, early 1900s
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:07:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21869545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overkill_max/pseuds/overkill_max
Summary: Grace and Sarah are setting off on an adventure of a lifetime. They have put all their hard-earned savings towards buying a passage on a steamer towards Canada and enough supplies to make the 10-week journey to a place where the rivers are filled with gold. The problem is that as soon as they step foot on the boat, Grace meets a girl, Dani, and their plans get derailed.AKAThe Gold Rush AU
Relationships: Grace/Dani Ramos
Comments: 29
Kudos: 106





	1. The Chance Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grace and Sarah start a journey where their lives are about to change. Little do they know that this includes helping a girl that was recently sold off for a few gold coins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on this article: https://www.historylink.org/File/687

**_Seattle, 1897_ **

//

**GOLD! GOLD! GOLD! GOLD!**

**Sixty-Eight Rich Men on the Steamer Portland.**

**STACKS OF YELLOW METAL!**

//

Grace bit her lip as she read the newspaper headline again. Sarah was the one that had helped her decipher the whole front-page article. She was able to read the title just fine, but everything else swam together and gave her a headache. The font was small, and the ink smeared on her hands. Reminding her how she wasn’t cut out to sit still in a classroom the way other kids were.

Her parents figured that out soon enough and she was able to help them in the farm much quicker than the other kids.

She looked down at the four words that would forever change her life, or at least she hoped they would: Gold. They echoed inside her just as they had on the page. Big and bold.

“Stop looking at that and keep an eye on your crap.” Sarah told her. Frowning beneath her wide brimmed hat. She hated the crowds.

That was not news. Sarah hated everything and everyone. She might even hate Grace.

“Stop looking at me. Look over there.” Sarah forced herself to frown but Grace caught a smile in there as she bumped her shoulder into Grace’s side. She beamed down at her companion. This was nice.

It didn’t matter if Sarah hated her a little. She knew that regardless; Sarah was family and she would never abandon her like her parents had. Sarah was too stubborn to die at the hand of thieves with trigger happy fingers.

Grace looked away from her paper. They, along with thousands of others, were lined at the docks, waiting for the Portland to arrive. It was said to carry $700,000. All in gold. Grace could hardly image how many pieces of gold that would look like. The most she’d held in her hands was the money she made from selling off the farm. She’d packed everything up in a wagon and started riding west. She couldn’t stand walking by the spot her parents had been murdered in because the stain couldn’t quite wash out of the wood.

Now she wanted to see those riches with her own eyes. Make sure that they weren’t crazy for wanting to go on this trip by themselves.

As soon as the men started to disembark there was a chorus rising. “Show us the gold.” Everyone shouted, including herself.

And there, right in front of them were crates of nuggets of gold. Emblazoned with the C.B. of C., Seattle stamps that showed who owned the gold within those boxes. Some even had stamps that read U.S. Gov. ASSAY Office. And others just had the names of their owners, no fancy operation to back them up.

The men stood tall, strong; they were heroes. Rich beyond her wildest imagination.

It was unlike anything she had ever seen.

//

The crowds dispersed and they went back to Yesler’s Corner. Where the watchful eye of the totem pole stared down at them as they made sure that all their supplies were there for the journey and would be properly loaded into their own steamer. They used their combined savings to buy up the supplies and the tickets.

They couldn’t afford the whole of the rich man’s route that would take 6 weeks all the way up the Pacific coast to the mouth of the Yukon river and then upstream the Yukon River, sailing the rest of the 8,000 kilometer trip down to Dawson City, Canada.

It was either supplies or sailing down in luxury.

Sarah thought they could make it without the extra supplies, if they landed in Dawson, they could go find gold straight in the Yukon. They already had a wagon and four horses. Buying supplies seemed foolhardy. Grace, ever cautious of the best laid plans going to shit multiple times on them, knew that they should not risk comfort over survival and put her foot down.

It cost her a bloody lip and an ornery Sarah for almost half a week, but now that they were about to go on their grand adventure, it seemed worth it.

  
  
//

**_The Pacific, 1897_ **

//

  
  
They were Yukon bound and the spray of the saltwater along with the biting cold made her incredibly happy.

Grace had never felt as free as she did in this very moment.

As she was looking around, she thought that the beauty of the ocean was unmatched.

Until she noticed sad brown eyes taking her in. The woman’s cheeks were tearstained, but she was still the prettiest thing she’d ever laid eyes on. Her skin was unblemished and even with her puffy red eyes Grace knew that nothing could compare to the sight of her.

She didn’t know her feet were taking her in the woman’s direction until she nearly tripped over herself when the woman offered her a shy wave and a clipped smile.

“Good afternoon.” The woman politely greeted her.

“Beautiful.” Grace nodded and she tightened her eyes closed when she realized what had come out of her mouth.

“I meant, beautiful day. Today. Out here. Not that you are beautiful or any other improper thing of that sort.” She tried to backpedal, rubbing the back of her neck.

“You are saying I am not beautiful? Then, I am ugly?” The woman said, confused.

“No, I mean you are very beautiful, especially in that dress, or out of it. I hope… I mean… no… not what I meant to… You look…” Grace thought it would have been better to trip over herself, maybe then her mouth would stop working.

The other woman let out a melodious laugh as she turned away and wiped at her eyes with a white handkerchief, she pulled out of her dress sleeve.

She looked back at Grace, who felt herself blush all the way up the top of her ears and down her neck.

“You are an odd one.” The woman told her, after a moment of studying her.

Grace nodded and hoped that the woman would tell her everything about herself. Grace wanted to be known entirely by her.

“I am Daniela Ramos… Dani.” She said, extending her hand. Grace nodded again and instead of shaking it, she bowed her body down and lifts the delicate hand up to her lips and laid a gentle kiss upon it. She smiled up at Dani and winked when the other woman met her eyes. Dani blushed, looked away, but she didn’t pull back her hand.

“So, you are a rogue, like the mapaches back home, huh?” Dani asks Grace as she rights herself up again. Not letting go entirely of Dani’s hand.

“Map, what now?” Grace asked, confused as to what the woman was comparing her to.

“No, mapaches, you know the little rogue creatures with the mask. Like they are bandits? The little tails like rings of smoke, marked black all the way to the top and tiny hands to wash their stolen goods with, in the river?” Dani tries describing the word she doesn’t seem to know.

Grace smiles, she’d never been compared to that particular creature before. “A racoon?”

Dani laughs and nods. “If that is mapache in English, then, yes, you are a rogue, like racoon. I can just tell by looking at you.”

Grace feels warm inside. She likes being seen through Dani’s eyes. She’s the first stranger to look at her and not gawk at a woman wearing men’s clothes. Or take her to be a man. Dani saw her as a charming rogue. It was addictive. To be seen as you were and not all the things you weren’t. The things you should be.

“Grace… my name is Grace… but I guess I am due for a new last name and isn’t that a daisy, Raccoon it is.” She introduces herself by leaning down and kissing Dani’s hand again. This time she takes off her hat with a flourish.

Dani laughs, clear eyes, she’s not sad anymore. Not since Grace started talking to her. It makes Grace’s heart soar. “You are tall to be a little racoon, no?” She gets asked.

//

They keep up their playful banter for a while. Talking about dozens of things without ever really getting to what Grace is dying to ask but is trying to avoid. Sarah described her as a bull racing straight into the town square. Barreling down innocent people. Grace hated it but she knew that she was not the most tactful person when it came to others. Which was why Sarah was always close behind. To keep them both out of trouble.

Ironic, seeing how Sarah was pricklier than she was. But she had a way of talking with others that Grace didn’t. She guesses it was from all that living alone she did on the farm. Sarah had always lived near the city, making it easier to get drunk than if she were alone.

It was how they met. Sarah had gotten drunk and was bragging about fleecing some idiots in poker when they tried to attack her after she left the bar.

Grace ran after them, afraid that the loud woman was about to get in trouble.

The alley she went into was not the scene she expected to come upon. All three men had bloody and bulging faces. Beaten raw with the same hands that were rummaging through their belonging.

“Don’t tell me you want a piece of me too. Because I really don’t have room in my pockets for your money, but I’ll take it if you’re offering.” Sarah warned her, wiping he bloodied knuckles on the man that was groaning at her feet.

“No ma’am, I just wanted to help. They looked like they were up to no good and came to offer some assistance.” Grace told her, palms up.

“Don’t fucking call me ma’am. My name is Sarah. And if you’re such a good fucking Samaritan come on over and help me get this guy’s ring off.”

//

“What’s so funny?” Sarah scowled at them. Not trusting Grace or the pretty little thing she was talking to. She looked like trouble and Sarah didn’t like the kind of trouble she didn’t help create.

Grace had been talking to this girl for a while now. Had missed supper because of it.

She had seen from afar how she almost tripped over herself to be close to her. Now they were laughing and gossiping like old pals and it didn’t sit right with her. This woman looked fancy, with her nice dress and fancy hat and her soft hands. She wondered why this woman was even wasting her time talking to someone who looked as rough as Grace did, with her well-worn clothes that were in desperate need of repair in some places.

“What, nothing. Why?” Grace said, sitting up straight, angling her body in front of the other woman’s and looking embarrassed. As if she had been caught doing something more than just talking but jumping at the chance to protect her new friend.

Sarah’s eyebrow shot up. _“Interesting.”_ She thought.

“You must be Sarah. Grace was telling me about some of your… adventures. My name is Dani, Dani Ramos.” The woman said in a voice that had traces of an accent that she swears she’d heard before.

Sarah looks her up and down and ignores the hand offered to her. “You Spanish or something?”

“No, I’m from Los Angeles in Alta California. My parents are mestizos, so they fled Mexico for better opportunities north. Settled in the city and had us kids. Some of my brothers and sisters died when we were younger. So, it’s just my brother, Diego and I, along with our parents.” The woman explained. Sarah grit her teeth. She saw how open this woman was. She would be eaten alive amongst these men... “So why are you here, then? Awfully far from home to be wandering around by yourself.” 

“Oh, I’m not alone. My brother Diego and his friend, Gabriel, are escorting me to my new husband.” Grace heard that word and her body sagged instantly. She didn’t know why it hurt her to know this woman was betrothed to someone else.

“Husband? Where does he live?” Sarah asked, curious.

“Dawson City. In Canada. He’s a gold man, or so I have been told.” Dani shrugged as she relayed the last bit.

“So, you’ve never met your sweetheart?” She has Sarah’s full attention now that she’s mentioned their destination.

“No. It was arranged by my father. My mother, she’s ill, I think it might be related to her losing the baby, but the doctors at the hospital refuse to treat her because of… well…” Dani pointed to her face and Sarah understood what she meant.

“This led to my father borrowing a lot of money from the wrong kind of people.” Dani continued.

Sarah nodded. Understanding that this young girl had been sold off so her father could settle his debts. It had happened to her too. Except Sarah had been taken to the Three Mile Hog Ranch. There had been no husband. It was a house of prostitution that intended to sell her body to recoup the cost they were out by buying her from a gullible man that was new to a land that was supposed to be free from suffering.

//

She was lucky that the first man there was nobler than most. Kyle Reese. He was a military man turned coward in trying to save her. He abandoned his military post to take her from that place at the first sign of tears. Always the damned hero, Kyle died a man outside the law while trying to enforce the very thing that was still hunting them down. He died trying to save his family. To give Sarah and their unborn child a better life than they all thought they could ever deserve.

John was latter taken from her by the consumption that ravaged the whole town.

Sarah was the only soul spared.

She drank to forget what it was like to bury such a small body in frozen ground.

The death of her man and her son had made Sarah bitter and wild.

Up until she met the tall bodyguard she couldn’t seem to shake.

She looked at Grace, no longer a lanky kid trying to help a lost woman. She was tall, with broad shoulders that came from the occasional bouts of work they had at towns and ranches they stopped at on the way north. Always moving to bigger and better places. Dreaming of a place they could call their own.

//

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that.” Sarah said.

“Thank you.” Dani smiled and nodded. Reading the sincerity that was rare for Sarah to give to others.

“What about you two? You both seem too rugged and adventurous to be the marrying kind.” She asked Sarah but her eyes were entirely on Grace. Whose bicep she was currently squeezing while her other hand remained in Grace’s hand.

 _“Interesting, indeed.”_ Sarah thought as her eyes bounced back from one woman to the other.

“We’re going to Dawson City, to find a piece of unclaimed river, stake a claim for ourselves and make a fortune from all the gold that is just washing up on the Yukon.” Sarah told her.

  
  
//

**_The Pacific, 1897_ **

//

  
  
After that day, Grace had a shadow.

It would have irritated Sarah if Dani wasn’t such a delightful girl. A contrast to the sullen one that she already loved; who could go days without saying a single word.

She was slowly being drawn out of her shell by Dani, who seemed to be her opposite in every way.

Dani loved to talk. She was kind and friendly. The kind of person that could be dropped off in the middle of the ocean and find someone to be friends with. She would often be joking with complete strangers when they made it down to breakfast. Having saved them both a plate and some coffee in their usual spots next to her. Something no other patron was allowed to do. There was a one plate per person rule but, even the kitchen staff had warmed up to Dani.

They met her brother, but he would often be out smoking, gambling, and boozing with his friend. Leaving Dani alone most of the time. Dani would stay with them. Mending Grace’s clothes out on the deck of the boat while leaning into the taller woman as she talked about everything under the sun.

Sarah would join them sometimes, get some of her things mended. Nodding along here and there but she would leave them on their own soon enough. There were men with bulging pockets that didn’t know when to quit a losing streak and Grace was too enamored to protest when Sarah went out looking for trouble.

At night they would have dinner and Dani would read them sections of her book. It was a newer one that Sarah had never heard of: The Time Machine. An odd book about a Time Traveller that goes into the future. It gave Sarah a headache to follow along, but it seemed to enrapture Grace, who would lean into Dani and look over her shoulder. Pretending to be following along just to be as close to Dani as possible. Sarah would go off again to find new suckers or even the same ones from earlier and earn them more money for their trip.

//

It seemed that they were destined to have an uneventful trip until they saw the shoreline the night before they were expected to dock at Kotlik.

Very few passengers were out, seeing as not a lot of them would be getting off in what was essentially a village. Most were able to afford passage right up until Dawson City, they didn’t want to be stranded in the wilderness for over 2,000 miles.

Sarah and Grace were those two passengers that were out. Dani was waiting for them in her room.

They saw shadows moving about and a gunshot was heard on deck. Drowned out by the raucous laughter inside the boat and the noise from the engines.

Sarah and Grace crept towards the scuffle. Not wanting to catch an armed man unawares for it could mean getting caught in whatever was going on but needing to be sure that this wouldn’t mean trouble for them

//

“I’m sorry friend, but this is where the trip ends for you. My employer thinks you might try to help your sister get out of our arrangement.”

“What arrangement? She knows she’s getting married to save our family…”

“You fucking Californios are so stupid, there is no marriage. Your sister is going to a parlor house, where she belongs, and my employer is going to pay me very handsomely for that… might even let me break her in.”

“I’ll kill you.”

//

There were two more gunshots and then a dragging noise could be heard.

//

“Dani, we have to go get Dani.” Grace pleaded with her. Sarah had started moving before Grace finished. She had once been that girl. If she could help another woman the way that Kyle Reese had helped her, she promised herself she would.

This was the time and Sarah was ready.

They made their way below deck as quickly and silently as they could.

//

Grace knocked on the door and barged in along with Sarah to a room that was as familiar as her own. Having spent a lot of time here. It was just as she had last seen it a couple of hours ago. Clean and everything still mostly packed away. Dani liked to have a clear area to entertain them in. Even if they always just ended sharing her bunkbed while they stayed in here.

Dani’s face lit up and promptly fell as soon as she saw how erratic they were acting.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“We have to get you out of here.” Grace told her, while grabbing her arm.

“What?” Dani asked. Confusion marring her features while she let herself be dragged along to the front of the dresser.

“Listen girly, you need to grab all your stuff and your brother’s and follow us.” Sarah said as she started stuffing clothes into an open bag.

“What’s going on?” Dani’s hands were packing up what little belongings they had brought on the trip while still not understanding why.

“Gabriel, your friend… he’s not your friend… we’re pretty sure he just killed your brother and if you don’t follow us, he’ll hurt you and then kill you too.” Grace told Dani as she took all 5 bags and started walking towards the cargo area.

Dani followed her and laughed in disbelief. “Grace, no, we have to wait for Diego. You’re not making any sense.”

Neither woman broke their stride.

“Sarah, please, tell Grace she’s acting crazy.” Dani touched the older woman’s arm.

“I’m not. Dani, please, just… trust me. Your life is in danger.” Grace told her as she hefted everything onto their wagon. Then she grabbed Dani and put her up there too.

“Grace.” The younger woman managed to squeal out before her feet landed on the wood.

“Dani, you have to hide here. Put on your brother’s clothes. Make sure they fit and hide here.” Grace instructed. She didn’t have a plan, she just needed to make sure Dani was safe for tonight and then tomorrow they could just take their wagon and figure it all out.

“Grace?” Dani asked while holding onto her face. Forcing the other woman to look into her eyes instead of everywhere but her.

Grace and Sarah could see the fear beneath. They also saw that she didn’t question them. Dani trusted them completely. She still wanted to know more. Needed to know. But she was here, confused, but willing to do what was needed.

“Just hide. Make sure that no one can hear you. We have blankets in there. It’s just like camping. You sleep there, and we will unload you tomorrow morning.” Sarah instructed her. “Come on, we have to go back to our room, pretend everything is normal.” She told Grace who was still looking at Dani.

“Promise you’ll come back?” Dani asked. Grace nodded and surged forward. Crashing her chapped lips against Dani’s very soft ones.

It was stupid and impulsive, but she couldn’t stop herself. She wanted to reassure Dani, but she didn’t have the words for it. She expected to be slapped or pushed off. Most people would be revulsed by this.

Dani was not most people. She pulled Grace closer, her hands holding onto Grace’s neck. She ended the kiss and stayed close. “Stay safe… take care of each other…” She punctuated her request with another kiss before ducking behind the thick canvas covering their wagon.

Grace was stunned.

She was rooted to her spot. A dopey smile on her face.

Sarah grumbled and grabbed her shirt. “Come on Romeo, we gotta make sure we have everything from her room and ours packed away. We can’t afford any mistakes.”

//

They go over Dani and Diego’s cabin. Picking up another bag of things that had been left over in their rush to leave.

Then they pack up their things. Making sure to hide Dani’s bag among theirs.

Tomorrow they have to leave the ship as soon as possible. Hopefully Dani will stay put. Won’t go out looking for her brother.

  
  
//

**_Kotlik, 1897_ **

//

  
  


Sarah and Grace were eating breakfast amongst everyone else. Looking around for any sign of Diego, hoping that they had misunderstood the situation and Dani was going to be married to some man in Dawson City. It would break Grace’s heart, but she only wanted what was best for Dani. If she wanted to be married to some man she had never met, then she would make sure it would happen. But only if she was sure that Diego was safe.

“Where the hell is she you Calamity Jane wannabes.” Came an angry shout from across the table.

Other passengers were whispering amongst each other as Gabriel’s angry fists made everything shake.

“Who, Dani? Isn’t she in her room? She usually meets us here for breakfast.” Grace answered in between bites. Trying to look unconcerned as sweat ran down her back.

“Don’t play with me.” He warns, low and angry.

“She’s usually here before us, if she overslept then she overslept. We can’t afford to miss breakfast today. I’m sure if you go ask Diego, when he sobers up from all the drinking you both like to do, then this can easily be resolved.” Sarah told him as she drank her coffee.

Gabriel’s face turned pale at the mention of Diego and he looked around. “I’ll look in her room again. If she’s not there, then you owe me the price of a good hog.”

Sarah laughed. “I thought she was to be married to some fancy gold man. She didn’t strike me as a soiled dove.” She told him, letting him know that she knew exactly what his slip up meant.

The man’s face hardened, and he looked around before leaving. He didn’t need rumors spreading while they still had weeks ahead of traveling.

As soon as he left Grace and Sarah grabbed their bags, hidden beneath the table, under heavy coats.

“Let’s go, it won’t be long before he figures us out for liars and by that time, we better hope we have a head start because there’s only one kind of man that shoots an unarmed one…” Sarah told her as they made their way to the side of the boat that would be docking.

//

Their wagon and horses were waiting for them out on the wooden dock. Nothing seemed out of place. Which also meant she couldn’t see if Dani was still hiding where their supplies were.

Grace desperately wanted to peek but Sarah’s hand on her arm stopped her.

“We need to go.” She warned Grace.

“Yeah. Nice welcome to Alaska to us.” Grace said bitterly.

//

They started walking towards the center of the village they had landed in. People stood outside their storefronts and houses, trying to see if they would stop in for supplies or drinks. Not many visitors came around here. Not from the fancy boats anyhow.

They kept moving, they didn’t know how long the boat would stop for, given that they were the only passengers departing while they turned the boat around so it could go up the Yukon River.

“Come back here you thieves. You have something of mine, and I want it back.” They heard echoing all around them.

The whole boat descended into chaos as it started to pull away. People were wondering what the two women had stolen from the angry man, but not enough to get involved.

As the boat kept moving, slightly faster than they could walk next to their fully loaded wagon and four horses, a shot rang out. Dirt flew wildly and Grace had to hold onto the reigns to stop the spooked horses from bolting.

“You wretched slugs. Don’t you have the decency to look a man in the eye when you steal from him? Come back here you cowards. I want my pound of flesh.” Several more shots rang out. Kicking up dirt. Sarah ignored him.

Grace stopped and turned. Looking towards the boat, making sure her voice carried over the distance she told him with conviction she didn’t know she possessed, “You go to hell. If you want blood and flesh, I’ll be your huckleberry. Otherwise, it’s best you stay on that boat.”

A final shot rang out and Grace grunted but she didn’t fall. She turned around and walked towards Sarah, who was leading the horses ahead.

  
  
//

**_Outskirts of Kotlik, 1897_ **

//

  
  


It had taken them most of the day to walk to the outskirts of the village and onto a clearing that would accommodate their camp.

As soon as the horses stopped Grace ran towards the back of the wagon. Dani was already looking towards her. She saw Grace’s arm, the amount of blood that was on it and she screamed.

“No, Dani, it’s fine, I’m fine.” Grace tried to calm her down. Dani was not listening to her, she jumped from the wagon and Grace could barely catch her in her arms.

“He shot you.” Dani said. Tears in her eyes as she searched Grace’s face. Who only nodded.

“Yeah, by the way, nicely done back there. Nothing like provoking the man with the gun in his hand and a history of shooting people while on a boat… You’re a real fucking peach.” Sarah angrily told her as she tried to rifle through their bags.

“Come on. Let’s get you all patched up.” Dani told Grace as she led her towards the river. Taking her bag from Sarah.

//

Grace was standing next to the edge with her boots off and her trousers rolled up past her knees.

“Take off your shirt.” Dani commanded. Grace felt her skin turn hot.

“I only have my vest underneath.” She told Dani, not ready to be seen in her undergarments.

Dani rolled her eyes and in a swift motion she took off her brother’s shirt, that was far too big for her. Her chemise was thin and white, nearly transparent with her sweat. The under bust corset served only to highlight where Grace’s eyes automatically were drawn to. She licked her lips and nodded. Trying to remember all the lewd pictures she had seen on the saucy pulp magazines she kept hidden in her pack. Wanting to recreate them.

Grace took off her shirt, not feeling the pain in her arm as she raised it above her head. She tossed it on the ground and started working on the buttons that held her vest closed.

A hand stopped her. “Here, kneel down, let me.”

Grace dropped to her knees and stared up at Dani. Who leaned down, Grace closed her eyes, ready to be kissed senseless.

Instead she heard the rustling of clothes and splashing.

She opened one eye and didn’t see Dani in front of her.

“What the?” Grace asked.

Dani was in the river, washing her shirt. The blood ran downstream. Staining the clear water.

“Come on, my little racoon, I need to wash your arm too.” Dani said, waving her over.

Once the shirt and Grace’s arm were washed. Dani started sewing the wound shut. It still bled while it was happening, but Grace didn’t complain. She was far too distracted by the nearness of Dani’s warm body. The way her undershirt clung to her skin.

“Stop staring. It’s unbecoming.” Dani admonished. Grace blushed and turned her eyes away. “Sorry.”

Dani laughed and stopped sewing. “I’m not serious. I… I like the way you stare.” She admitted. Grace looked at Dani’s chest and then her face.

Dani kissed her.

Before Grace could get carried away Dani pushed her back. “I need to sew your wound shut and then your shirt… why don’t we continue this later?”

Grace smiled and nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear that one day I will stop writing historical AUs and just read stuff like a normal person, no inspiration to make it gay, no nothing… today is not even close to being that day.


	2. The Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With their new companion in tow, our heroes head towards Dawson City through untraversed wilderness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The rating on this fic changed because of this chapter.

**_Outskirts of Kotlik, 1897_ **

//

**NO WARNING OF DANGER CAN STAY THE RUSH TO THE YUKON.**

**Thousands of Gold-Seekers Pressing Eagerly**

**Forward to Reach the Hidden Treasure**

**In the North Land.**

//

Later could not come soon enough.

Grace’s lips were kiss swollen, and her heart was cracked wide open. All she wanted was Dani. With her small hips that were perfect for gripping tight against Grace’s own body.

“Grace.” Dani whispers her name. 

It spurred her to be bolder. To let her hands, wander. Trace the delicate material covering Dani’s body that only served to further highlight the beautiful curves on the smaller woman’s body. The sun kissed skin that had always been hidden from view since their first meeting was suddenly exposed as Grace’s fingers worked the ribbons at the top of the chemise. To continue unlacing the under bust. When that fell to the ground Grace’s fingers continued their slow word, and opened the small white buttons holding the fine cotton together.

“We should slow down, Grace.” Dani told her while slipping the rough material covering Grace’s body down. Exposing the top half of her to the crisp air around them. Goosebumps covered her skin.

“Yes, we should stop.” Grace agreed in between peppering kisses on Dani’s uncovered shoulders while she was unbuttoning her pants.

“We are outside.” Dani reminded her while pulling her own pants down and letting them pool around her ankles. It made Grace’s breath catch in her throat. There were blue ribbons around Dani’s waist and mid-thighs that served to highlight her femininity. It was tight against her small waist and floated around her thighs, showcasing the lace that ended the combination.

Dani felt self-conscious at how Grace was openly staring. She’d never been this exposed with anyone else before. It was daylight. There was nowhere to hide. No curtains to draw closed so that she could take this back.

Before she could hide herself, put her clothes hastily back on, Grace lifted her from her spot and put Dani’s body entirely on top of hers. Their mouths collide, teeth against teeth. Dani is breathing erratically as she moves her body against Grace’s. Trying to get closer while also chasing that rushed feeling that is happening all over her body. Concentrated at the very core of her.

Grace is clutching her like she might vanish into thin air. Her strong fingers leaving red marks against her skin. It’s not painful. It’s the perfect reminder of what they’re doing.

Their bodies find a rhythm that works and soon enough this wondrous feeling takes over them.

Leaving them panting into each other’s mouths and breathless.

Grace’s hands rest on Dani’s behind, on top of the frills and the lace. She wants more. She wants Dani naked beneath her. To feel her skin against Dani’s skin. Not just in a stolen moment by the river.

“Dani, we should—” she’s about to suggest that they make for camp and really get to know one another in her tent when they’re interrupted.

“Now that you’ve given every bear in Alaska a private show, do either one of you mind coming back to camp and helping me set up? Maybe brush the horses, I don’t know, start a fire, do all that boring crap that involves putting on clothes and keeping your hands to yourselves?” Sarah asked.

Grace was so shocked at how she hadn’t heard the older woman sneak up on them that she slipped from the rock at the edge of the river and promptly fell in with Dani on top of her.

They both righted themselves back up. Soaking wet, cold and embarrassed.

“Thank you, Sarah. We will be there in a bit.” Dani reassured her. Trying to dismiss her so they could get dressed in private.

Grace was stupefied, Dani’s undergarments were paper thin and translucent. She could see the dark tuft of hair between Dani’s legs and she was mesmerized.

Sarah could see where Grace’s eyesight went, and she folded her arms while leaning against the rock they had been on earlier.

“Why don’t I wait for you girls right here, make sure you don’t dilly dally too much?” She told them.

Grace had not heard a word. Still openly staring at Dani’s body.

Dani rolled her eyes at Sarah. No use being shy now that she was practically naked in front of both women, whom she would be living with from now on as well.

“You know, if you had moved faster, you wouldn’t have to be a pervert along with all those bears you mention.” Dani told her as she walked over to where their clothes were. Winking at Sarah. Who grumbled and narrowed her eyes. “No offense, girly, but you couldn’t handle me if I had moved faster.”

Grace was still in the river, dark eyes taking in the way Dani was laughing and getting dressed.

She stayed rooted to her spot until Dani came back, her trousers rucked up past her knees. “Are you going to get dressed?” Dani asked.

Grace nodded but didn’t move. Imagining what was beneath those clothes. Her hands itching to take off every layer again.

Dani pulled Grace’s body down. Kissed her square on the lips and smiled as she leaned back. “Well, don’t keep us waiting my little racoon. I… I don’t have a tent of my own and I would hate to have to share with Sarah instead of you because you didn’t help us with the work.”

That cut through the fog.

Grace lifted her up and carried her to the shore. Dani laughed and laughed. Feeling free. She was happy.

  
  
//

**_Outskirts of Kotlik, 1897_ **

//

  
  
Although Dani stumbles a bit over the work that is needed of her that first day, she takes easily to the tasks that had seemed to vex Sarah and Grace. Making her an unexpected but perfect fit for their group.

She can effortlessly cook things beyond an inedible mush or a burnt crisp like Sarah or Grace tend to do. And she insists on doing things Sarah and Grace would have been lax about, like keeping things as clean as possible. Worrying over Grace’s wound being dirty because she says it’s harder to keep an eye on it if it’s not constantly clean.

She even fusses over Sarah. Making sure she gets Dani’s sugar ration because Sarah likes her coffee sweet.

“I know that men like Gabriel don’t give up easily and he might find us once we get to Dawson City, but I gotta say, I’m glad you’re with us.” Sarah tells Dani as she pats her stomach. They’re eating smaller rations than normal, to accommodate for a third person with supplies meant for just two, but she still feels full.

The way Dani cooks Sarah wouldn’t mind one bit if Grace got Boston Married to the smaller girl. Might think of taking up a wife herself too if she was inclined that way too. Hell, even if she wasn’t.

“Do you think that he will come after me?” Dani asks a sleepy Sarah, who is sitting by the fire. Her eyes are wide. Terrified. But there is something hidden beneath. A will to survive that had endeared her to Grace so easily. A girl that was bursting at the seams to do the right thing but ended up being drawn to a woman like Sarah instead.

The kind of person that made their own laws.

Out here in the west, they fit perfectly. They were as wild as the untamed land and nobody could tell them how they should be.

Dani had that steel beneath her compliant demeanor.

Any other woman would have ignored them. Would not have entertained a conversation with the likes of them. Dani felt the pull between herself and Grace and actively leaned in.

“That man is a hunter, and you know that for a hunter, it’s the thrill of the hunt. He could care less about the kill. About the moment he killed your brother, why he became that hunter. He is no longer a man. He is an animal. Unleashed. He will come for us. Whether in Dawson City or after we reach it. I know his kind. And they don’t give up easy. They either die hunting you or they get their prey.” Sarah told her. Eyes reflecting the fire in between them.

“Well ain’t that a daisy.” Grace said, serious. “He might be a hunter, but I’m not stopping either. I’ll protect you Dani, I promise.”

Dani smiled at Grace and kissed the taller woman. “I know.” Then she looked back to Sarah and read her like one of her fancy books. “And you will too.”

  
  
//

**_Alaska, 1897_ **

//

  
  
Although the wilds are beautiful, it is dangerous going.

There is no path, everything is uncharted.

It is so desolate that there are no people for miles upon miles.

If they had taken the poor man’s route, they could have gone from Skagway towards Canyon City and up the White Pass. It would have been shorter and they could have hired help for their packs from the natives there. But once Grace heard how that shortcut was known as Dead Horse Pass because it was full of dead horses, desperate to flee the toil their masters put upon them, she had wanted nothing to do with it. It was what had started their fight. Grace thought the horses were more than just work animals. You don’t have a connection with just any horse. Sarah, having been a city woman through and through did not see the issue with it.

Grace was willing to spend more money so her horses could live. Even if it meant that their trip would be double what others would take because they couldn’t afford the whole passage straight to Dawson City.

This meant that without anyone to guide them, they could only rely on each other. It required a level of trust that Grace and Sarah had for each implicitly. Years of being together through the worst of every situation meant that they knew each other’s mettle. They would manage to forge ahead regardless of any disagreements.

Dani was another matter altogether.

She was an unknown and Sarah was still unsure of how such a pretty young girl who had no experience in the wilderness would do.

She thought Dani would slow them down.

Sure, Dani could cook, and clean but what mattered was if she could carry her own weight. Especially here where she couldn’t use her sewing machine to get a job as a seamstress out in the wild lands. She used it to fix up their clothes just fine, but that didn’t do much to earn gold just yet.

//

Dani, like most women of her time, fell into her role easily. Grace and Sarah were the experienced outdoorsmen. They knew how to hunt and fish. Dani ran the camp. She helped them set up, cooked breakfast for them early in the morning, made a pot of coffee and delegated their tasks while they ate. She was a natural leader that quickly found ways to make their days run smoother. Including the setting up and tearing down of their camp.

She also knew things from her books that were invaluable. Proving that she didn’t need to be the strongest out of all three of them to be able to emerge as a voice of reason.

Dani had asked that they set up their camp differently the next day. Warning them that cooking too close to their camp might be a bad idea. That she read how bears were curious and liked to steal from people. It was in her novels. She suggested that they build their firepit close to the river and the camp away from there.

Sarah brushed off her concerns and said books couldn’t teach you how to live out in unknown territory. Dani stared at her, hard, and then smiled. Easily conceding to the older woman. “You’re right, Sarah. Let’s do it this way. You’re the boss.”

The way she said it had irritated Sarah. Like Dani knew something she didn’t. But who was she to argue with someone that told her what she already knew? _She was the boss._

Three nights later, when a bear came sneaking into the camp and nearly spooked their horses, Sarah conceded that maybe Dani had been right.

It only took her watching Dani scare away a behemoth with nothing but her words and calm demeanor to realize that maybe she wasn’t the boss she thought she was. Dani made a far better leader.

****

****

**_//_ **

****

**_Alaska, 1897_ **

//

  
  


After more than a month and a half on the trail, the cold starts to set in and it gets harder to hunt without wandering dangerously far from their camp.

Grace and Sarah had gotten lost, unable to return the same day and without any supplies besides their rifles and the daypacks Dani had made for them, something that had seem unnecessarily heavy and wasteful before had saved their lives that night.

Never had Sarah been so grateful for the smaller woman than when she realized the reason why their packs were so heavy, when they were only meant to have some food and water was because one had a piece of tarp and the other had a blanket.

They huddled against each other. Scared for themselves. Wondering if they could find their way back to camp. Having lost their prey in the bush that had cut into their tender flesh. It had confused them. The trees were tall and everything had that eerie feeling of sameness without the constant rushing of the river to serve as their guide, it was hard.

They hardly slept that night.

Every noise was a predator. A bear. Or another monster they had yet to encounter out here. Something undiscovered.

The next day they were reluctant to pack up. They had found a small refuge beneath the tarp and they had the blanket wrapped around their shoulders. Sharing it as they divvied up what was left of their meat.

Grace wanted to scream. Sarah hated that there were no landmarks out here.

They heard a rustling, and both took up their rifles. “Shoo, bear.” Sarah felt stupid for trying to scare the bear away with just her words but she was lost, hungry and if Dani could scare a bear, why the fuck couldn’t she? She was Sarah fucking Connor, a legend among poker parlors and saloons of ill repute.

“I’m not a bear.” Came from the bushes before Dani emerged. Grace tripped over herself, scratching her arms and face real bad and deep.

“Grace!” Dani shouted, running towards the clumsy woman who had been so relieved to see Dani come after them that she didn’t think to look at the uneven surface beneath their boots.

“You silly little raccoon. Look at you, you’re all injured now.” Dani said tenderly as she cupped Grace’s face before kissing her lips just as gently.

“You found us.” Grace said, in awe.

“Of course, I did. You both left a trail as wide as the ocean.” She said, pointing to a thick rope behind her.

“We left that?” Grace asked, confused.

“No. I brought the rope, like Ariadne’s string so I wouldn’t get lost in case I couldn’t find you today… your trail was all the broken branches and twisted up berry bushes.” She told them.

“Come on Sarah, pack up your stuff and help me with Grace, we have to get her back to camp as soon as possible to sew her up. These look deep and we have a bit of a ways to go.” Dani asked the older woman who only scratched her head. Impressed by the smaller woman once again…

**_//_ **

****

**_Alaska, 1897_ **

//

  
With Grace out of commission for a couple of days, it was up to Dani and Sarah to help supplement their rations.

After they had gotten lost in the woods, they were all a bit wary of wandering too far from camp. Knowing that because they were unfamiliar with the woods, they could easily get lost and never find their way back again. The rope only went so far and animals, although thirsty, were wary of coming near their camp…

That meant that they would have to rely more on their fishing than they had in the past. Given that Dani was not a good shot and they couldn’t afford to waste the ammunition it would take to teach her… according to Sarah. Grace thought teaching Dani was a worthwhile tradeoff. But without her to help teach Dani, it was a fight she would be unable to win until she was better.

//

They were trying to fish, for the third day in a row, and had caught nothing yet.

Sarah’s patience was wearing thin. She was hungry due to their meager rations no longer being supplemented by meat, and Dani had once again cut down their sugar rations.

It was a point of contention.

Sarah wanted her coffee as sweet as before, but Dani warned her that if they used up all their sugar now, Sarah wouldn’t have any sugar until Dawson City. Which was still over a month away, if they didn’t hit any other delays or the weather kept cooperating.

Sarah was angrily stewing when Dani made the mistake of trying to engage her in conversation about fishing and how it was not as easy as the books made it seem to be.

“Well it would be easier if you didn’t scare away all the fish with all your inane talking.” Sarah shouted at Dani, frustrated that she had failed to catch anything, yet again.

Dani’s face fell as she nodded. “Sorry.” She heard before Dani turned around and left.

“Well. Shit.” Sarah said aloud as she watched a sad Dani leave. Her shoulders slumping and her head down, looking at the ground.

//

Sarah got back to their camp much later. Almost at sunset. Having caught two good sized salmon. She felt proud of herself because they wouldn’t starve.

Grace was restless. She should be resting but she didn’t seem to be able to. It was like their first meeting again. Grace seemed to be falling all over herself in front of Dani. Trying to get noticed by the smaller woman. Who seemed to be somewhere else entirely. Her body was there, but her eyes weren’t.

Grace waved at Sarah with relief. She said something to Dani who looked up at her and nodded but went back to staring at nothing.

Grace ran up to her, and started rambling “listen, something is wrong with Dani, we have to turn back. Or you can go ahead and we’ll turn back… maybe the town has a doctor or someone that can help… you can keep the horses, everything just, I want enough supplies to be able to make it there and back. Or not even back. Just, we need help.”

Sarah looked over at Dani. She seemed fine. Grace’s face and arms on the other hand, could have probably used a doctor. But if Dani and Grace weren’t worried about that, why should they worry about Dani when she didn’t look as rough as Grace did.

“She’s fine. She’s probably just hungry. Once these are done cooking and she’s had something hearty in her, she’ll be back to herself again.” She tried to reassure Grace, who looked unconvinced but nodded.

“Hey, I caught these for us.” Sarah told Dani as she showed her the fish. Dani looked up and nodded. Her expression blank. Sarah expected anger, or even sadness but there was nothing. Maybe Grace was right to be worried.

“Do you want me to clean them up and cook them for us?” Sarah tried, her way of apologizing. She hated doing the cooking, everything always came out too burnt or not cooked enough.

Dani would usually joke about Sarah’s cooking being worse than getting eaten by a bear, and then take over. There was nothing.

“I’ll umm get these started then…” Sarah said as she left the camp. Going back to the river to gut and clean the fish. Cook it where their pans were set up.

Nobody complained about her cooking. Not even Sarah, who was usually the first to pipe up about anything that displeased her.

Dani barely touched her food. Grace and Sarah ate her share of the fish after Dani went to bed. The usually fastidious woman that insisted everything be clean before bed due to her fear of bears didn’t remind them of that. She just slept.

Maybe she wasn’t as hungry as Sarah thought.

//

Days went on and it was more of the same. Dani held her own. She helped set up camp when prompted by a gentle and soft Grace. But otherwise she didn’t seem to be fully there.

Sarah had even taken over cooking duties on top of hunting and fishing for them.

//

Seeing Dani be so silent and dulled out made Sarah snap. She told Grace everything. How it was her fault that Dani wasn’t the same. That she would do anything to make Dani go back to being herself again.

She expected anger. A threat. Even Grace kicking her out of the expedition, leave her to fend for herself. Instead she found understanding.

“Fix it.” Grace implored. “Please. Apologize.”

Sarah balked. She had been apologizing, over and over for the past couple of days. “I did. I swear I have been.”

“I know. I saw. But… Dani… God, Sarah, Dani is not like us. She uses words and she just needs you to say it… more than that you have to mean it. Please, Sarah.” Grace begs.

Sarah was on a precipice. She could agree or she could turn back and let this continue the way it was. She looked back towards camp, where Dani sat and looked at nothing. The landscape was breathtakingly beautiful. It made you feel small and alive and at peace with yourself and with nature. But Dani wasn’t taking that in. Sarah knew.

She looks to Grace and she knows that if she doesn’t admit that she messed up, she could lose them both. The thing is Sarah wants Dani back as much as Grace does. Whether it would cost her Grace or not, she wants Dani back.

Even if she doesn’t love the younger woman quite the same way Grace loves her, she still means the world to her. Dani is easy to love. And she deserves a real apology. One she can understand beyond what Sarah had been doing for them.

//

She finds Dani staring straight ahead.

“Hey, girly, mind if I sit here?” Sarah asks, hands hanging uselessly next to her.

Dani nods but doesn’t look at Sarah. She is so quiet it’s eerie. Dani was always a ball of energy and too many words that just made you feel better. Without it, the world felt wrong.

“Listen. I’m sorry kid. I didn’t mean to yell at you.” It cost her a lot of effort to string those words together but there’s nothing. No catharsis, no big relief from Dani, no anger… nothing. She is still blank.

Sarah feels like crying. How can she fix something she broke like this?

“I’m sorry.” She tries again and covers Dani’s hand with her own. “I really am sorry… and I don’t know… I want to fix this. Grace doesn’t deserve this… hell you don’t deserve this. I might… I do deserve it, because I’m a jackass, but not you guys.”

Sarah looks over at Dani and is shocked to see tears running down her face. She was so quiet that she didn’t notice when she started crying.

“Please don’t punish Grace because of me.” Sarah begged.

“I’m not trying to punish anyone… I’m sorry too but I’m just so tired Sarah. Of always being too much… I… I thought Grace and you understood me. And it was nice to be free out here in a place with no rules but what we make… and then… then you reminded me that I am still too much…” Dani sighed.

“I miss my parents… I miss my home… I miss talking with someone that understands words I can’t remember in another tongue… I miss so many things and I am just… I’m so tired Sarah. I don’t know how to be anything else but too much… and Diego, he liked the drink and only wanted to have a good time, but he was a good brother because he always brought me a book from wherever he went… he didn’t think that I was too much… and now he’s gone.” She looked away as she hugged her legs against herself.

Sarah understands the silence now. The mourning that happened days after the adventure of being in a foreign place wore off a bit. It was still a great voyage but now it was their reality and it became mundane. But the loss was still there. Dull and throbbing underneath.

“I couldn’t even bury my brother. His body is just floating out there. And the worst part is that I can’t tell my parents because mi mamá is sick and this might also kill her…”

Sarah hugs her. Dani cries against her. Finally letting herself mourn. To let out everything she’d been holding back.

“I’m sorry, Sarah. I just… if you thought I was too much… I was scared that Grace might think it too…” Dani told her in between big breaths and tears.

“No, I’m sorry. I was pissed off at this whole thing, but not at you… never at you…” Sarah feels a fondness for this young woman that she couldn’t place until she remembered her son. He was always talking too much and was a ball of energy. Dani was a mirror to John and it was painful to have her here, exploring the world, and not him. It wasn’t her fault that he was gone but she didn’t know how to tell this to Dani.

“It’s my fault… for being too damn old… Grace loves you, just as you are, girly. So, you can talk, or you can not talk. She will love you.” Sarah reassured her.

“Promise?” Dani asked. Sarah nods.

“I promise, Dani I’m in this.” They both turned around to see Grace standing there.

“I’m sorry.” Dani tells her. Grace drops to her knees in front of Dani and hugs the smaller woman against her. Loving the feel of Dani in her arms. Soft and strong. She was the fire that burned within her.

“Don’t.” Grace reassures her that she has nothing to feel sorry for. Seals it with a kiss on top of her head.

“Okay.” Dani tells her and lets herself be surrounded by love. Lets it drown her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes Dani and Grace are just horny on main. And sometimes I just like writing emotional scenes between Sarah and Dani because I love them and their dynamic so much. As much as Grace and Sarah or Dani and Grace. Seriously these three are my jam.


	3. The Chase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes reach Dawson City. However, their adventure is about to begin anew when an old foe gives chase.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will be split into two narrators. First Dani and then Gabriel. I did like 0 editing, so be kind. That will probably come at a later date.

****

**_Alaska, 1897_ **

//

**WOMEN IN THE KLONDIKE.**

**Where Strong Men Turn Back Before Hardships,**

**Brave Women Continue the Journey.**

//

As they kept moving forward, the sun became muted by thick clouds that were up before they could finish their breakfast.

Dani thought that everything seemed to move more sluggishly as they got closer to Dawson City.

It could have been due to the rain that sometimes came down on them and made everything they wore unbearably wet and heavy. Or it could be attributed to the mud that would swallow up their boots and refused to easily spit them back out. Making every step they took wear them down more than before. They were now expending three times the effort than before to cover about the same distance. Sometimes even less.

On top of that, they had to be extra careful when it came to the horses. If they were having trouble walking in the mud; thick and sticky like molasses; the horses would have an even harder time, with their delicate ankles that held up hundreds of pounds of muscle and hundreds more made up of wood, nails and leather straps that held the bulk of their supplies for the expedition.

Their cargo was getting progressively lighter due to the food rations that were dwindling down. But this did not mean that they were without a heavy load.

//

Dani had never been as bone tired and hungry as she had been these past couple of weeks.

//

Her body ached with hunger.

//

All she thought about was food.

Every step she took made a new image appear in her brain. Dried pork. Boiled potatoes. Dried apples. Biscuits that she got to cook every couple of days. That became soggy in the rain. Dani thought about the sugar that was disappearing faster than she would like. Then images of salmon jumping in the clear, cold stream would come into her mind. Thinking about how they could catch some when the rain died down, if they were lucky. Cook them over the fire and let the smell waft through the camp. Disappear amongst the stars.

She thought about the things she used to be able to make them, things they had run out of like dried meat.

All of these things occupied a bigger space in her mind than she thought possible.

The fear she had felt before. The crushing anguish of a brother murdered and lost at sea. It was gone. Replaced by a hunger unlike anything else she had felt before.

//

Dani only wanted to eat. She was obsessed with these thoughts. However, she was not the only one. A transformation happened as they became lithe and muscular due to their new life. Where their rations had to be cut down again and again while the physical labor around the camp remained the same or sometimes got harder. Days were longer and sometimes they would be unable to eat more than a couple of biscuits and some watery coffee for breakfast along with a dinner of potatoes and beans.

Their conversations turned from gold and riches beyond compare to food.

They would talk about food they wanted to indulge in once they got to Dawson City

Dani would sit around camp with Sarah and Grace and talk about how she wanted lard, sugar, flour and fresh fruits so that she could make them all sweet empanadas. A simple desert. Or pies, she learned to make those too and it was more familiar to her companions.

This constant thinking and talking about food was a huge departure from how they had begun their trip.

At the start all that there was, was Grace. With her gentle demeanor and easy smiles that seemed reserved only for her. Dani had felt her want like a flame that threatened to consume them both with the need to be as close as physically possible. Dani had wanted to continue what they had done next to the river, this time without clothes on. To allow for gentle exploration between their bodies in their shared tent.

That was gone.

Extinguished like their campfires.

There was no more mourning. No more heat. No more yearning for anything. Dani didn’t even feel sad or numb or anything for her brother anymore. She woke up in the morning to silence and went through the motions of making them coffee and breakfast. Not understanding how hours could have passed between the minute she closed her eyes and the next, when she tried to burrow closer to Grace and realized that the sky was lit up in impossible pinks and reds.

Dani had no energy to want anything else but food.

It was a queer thing, Dani thought, to have something, truly have it, and not being able to fully embrace it in the way you longed to. To have it taken from you just when you were fully ready to explore it, and to no longer fight against everything to have it again. All due to hunger.

Still, Dani did not regret he decision to run with them. She hoped that Grace and Sarah felt the same way about having to share their supplies with someone who was more comfortable being inside the home than out in this wilderness where the only thing that reminded her of home was the soft blue of Grace’s eyes.

****

**_//_ **

****

**_Outskirts of Eagle, 1897_ **

//

  
  


In celebration of the town before them, Dani forgets about the rations for one night and cooks them up a feast. Barley and carrots. Potatoes and salmon. Even without butter, something they had run out two weeks ago, it tastes delicious and for once, they go to bed without hunger clawing at their skin.

Grace falls asleep in front of the fire. Content to be surrounded by her family. Sarah smiles and kicks gently at Dani’s feet. Trying to get her attention without rousing their companion.

Dani shares a quiet laugh with Sarah. Hiding most of the sound in between her cold, chapped hands. She stands up, ready to wash the dishes so things could be put away. Before she begins the nightly ritual of cleaning things in the river, she kisses the top of Grace’s head and gently guides the taller woman into their tent.

Taking a deep breath, she looks at the purple sky above them and smiles. It’s the first time she doesn’t feel hunger or sadness or numb. She feels happy. And guilty. She knows she should mourn more for her brother. And she might. Tomorrow she might not want to get out of bed with how sad she is. But today, today she is happy. Dani knows that this is only because she is certain that no matter what happens when they get into town, even if they do not meet and make their fortunes in Dawson City, they had an amazing journey full of perfect moments that are forever etched into her soul. Hieroglyphics of her newfound place in the world. A family to call her own.

//

The next morning, she surprises Sarah by giving her a hidden bit of sugar she had stashed away.

Instead of being angry, Sarah’s eyes get watery and she hugs the smaller woman into her body. “Thanks, kid.” She tells her, coughing as a way to hide the emotion behind this.

It meant something to the younger woman. A reconciliation of sorts.

//

They had run out of sugar long before they ran out of butter. However, she had saved some, after finding it, hiding among the wrong pile of sacks. She would have shared, had it not been for the butter incident.

Sarah could have avoided it, but she didn’t. She was stubborn, that woman. She wanted sugar and she wanted butter and she wanted all the things they no longer had. Dani hated that the older woman looked at her like she was to blame.

Because she was.

If she hadn’t been here, they could have had more food for themselves… then again, Dani wonders if they would have started rationing the food much later than when she did. If they would have gotten lost in the woods forever, trying to find game that knew the forests better than they did. Dani knew that she was to blame for their smaller meal sizes, but she knows they probably would have starved or done things wrong out there if it wasn’t for her. Especially now, with how Sarah refuses to believe that they need to save food because game was scarce and their fishing was a gamble.

Sarah was right. They needed their energy. It wasn’t fair that Dani was blamed for not knowing how to keep them happy and full when she was trying her hardest to stretch the things they did have.

“We’re working harder and getting tired faster because our food is not as much as before… I need more food than biscuits every other day and all this other mush.” Sarah threw her empty plate onto the ground. Upset that she couldn’t have more.

“Que terca. ¿No entiendes que ya no tenemos más? No podemos comer más.” Dani shouted at Sarah before she began unloading their supplies in front of their wagon. White sacks were stacked between them, a wall between her and the irritating woman that could read her so well and yet, get things so wrong.

“Here you go. You are such a big mouth, telling me I cannot do my job right. Then you do it for me. You be the camp boss from now on. You can cook and make sure our supplies don’t run out and I can do nothing but complain and shoot at the air.”

Dani tamped down her smile at how Sarah’s lips furrowed into a deep frown. She looked to the bags and then to Dani in a way that meant she was still trying to add things up. Understanding how she had already lost but not quite knowing how.

Sarah wanted to know what she knew. She was also too stubborn to apologize midway through an argument she was sure she would easily win. She squinted at Dani with mistrust and took her in.

Then, it hit her.

Dani saw it in her eyes.

The minute she replayed her words, she knew she was about to make a fool out of herself. Her jaw clenched and she crossed her arms. Knowing that Dani only called her the boss of them when she was absolutely certain that the end result of their argument would be a memorable disaster for Sarah.

After the bear incident, Sarah didn’t learn and had pushed Dani again. Thinking she knew best.

Dani was not in the habit of forcing people to do things her way. They could learn the hard way if they wanted.

She trusted her books and she trusted her own mind.

Those berries were not as edible as the rest had been. She was sure of it. Sarah ignored her. Telling Grace that they would be fine. They were bed ridden, next to the river for two days. The next time, Sarah had been stubborn and both Grace and her suffered the consequences. It was a pattern that became more amusing than frustrating.

Except today.

She was good at managing their supplies and she knew how much they could do with each day without passing out from exhaustion or hunger.

True to her ornery and stubborn nature, Sarah took the bait, even when doubting if she would win. She ripped the notebook and pencil from Dani’s hands and quickly roped Grace into helping her take inventory of what was left. Not wanting to be outplayed by some city girl that still couldn’t fish worth a damn.

****

**_//_ **

****

**_Eagle, 1897_ **

****

**_//_ **

****

“This doesn’t seem like Dawson.” Was the first thing Dani said as they rode into town. Confused as to why the city was not what the papers had advertised. It was smaller. The way the first Alaskan town had been. Not a bustling metropolis thanks to all the gold and prospectors trying to make it rich.

Once they got into the town, they stopped at the general store. Awed at how many eagles seemed to be flying on the outskirts of town.

“Dani, give me that list. I’ll make sure to get us everything you wrote down there and anything extra we can afford.” Dani is about to protest, she wanted to go into the store with them. Sarah holds her hand up to keep her quiet.

“Look around us, girly, there’s nothing but people that look like us here. If you go in there, it might mean trouble. Trouble we should avoid, in case our gun happy friend is here.” Dani’s shoulders drop as she nods. She hates that Sarah is right.

“Listen, how about I get us some extra sugar and whatever stuff to make your hemp tatas.” Dani laughs and nods at Sarah.

****

**_//_ **

****

They make their camp near the general store. The clerk had told them that they were close to Dawson. They just had to keep following the river for another month or so and they would be at their destination.

Dani made empanadas and pies. She used the berries she had picked. The ones that hadn’t made Sarah and Grace sick.

The smell wafted through the town and soon, hungry men in dirty clothes and long bearded faces came up to their tents. Once they see Dani, even in her trousers, their lips turn up and they fall over themselves to get some food from her.

“I only have two pies. It’s 20 dollars a pie, which is cheaper than the general store.” The men nod quickly, knowing this to be true. Everything here is so expensive. A boat before the rush could cost 75 dollars, made on the spot. Once the fever hit, it was 400 dollars for a cheap boat.

The men paid the 40 dollars and talked with Dani. She laughed at their jokes and plied them with black, watery coffee. Asking questions about Dawson City and why they chose to leave, if there was so much gold to be made there. They admitted that a lot of the claims near the town had been taken over by big wigs that sometimes didn’t even need to pan for gold. They would be rich from selling pieces of river. Dani’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Distracted.

At the end of the night, the men left, giving Dani a generous, 300 dollar tip. They had been lonely for the company of the fairer sex. Not in a lewd way. Like Gabriel. In the way that men miss home. The way that they miss having a place where they can be at ease and taken care of when there is nothing else to do in a rugged place full of other men that are nothing like the lives they left behind in their greed for gold.

This interaction planted a seed inside Dani.

****

****

**_//_ **

****

**_Yukon, 1897_ **

//

  
Dani held onto those private thoughts as the group kept making their way further into their journey. Made easier in the knowledge that they would soon enough get to where they needed to be.

**_//_ **

****

**_Outskirts of Dawson City, 1897_ **

//

  
After her plan had been firmly worked out in her mind, she told her companions the next time they were finishing up dinner. Still rationed but not as harshly as before.

“What do you mean mine the miners?” Grace asked. Confusion clear on her face.

“I thought we saved you from that kind of… forced companionship…” Sarah gruffly said into her cup of tea.

Dani sighed. Things always sounded better in her mind than they did aloud. It was easier to gather her thoughts first and then write them down in a letter. Or say them as they were, exactly in her head.

“Yes. But not like that. Remember the men we met in town? How eager they were to pay for just someone to talk to them? To get a pie for 20 dollars.” Both women nodded and Dani smiled.

“Imagine then, a city full of 30,000 men with less than 200 women… how much would they pay for a home cooked meal that is something besides beans and bacon and barley?” Sarah bit her lip. Understanding dawning on her.

“They said that out of all those men, only half had a claim. And even less had one that was flowing with gold… the rest of the men work for wages…” Grace was about to say something when Dani told them something the men had said to her once she mentioned her sewing machine, offering to make repairs if needed.

“A sewing machine costs ten million dollars in Dawson. Ten million.” Sarah whistled at that figure.

“I can cook and sew for the men there, while you both go out and prospect for gold.” Grace paled at the possibility of leaving Dani behind. She smiled and placed a hand on top of Grace’s.

She shook her head. “No, I don’t want to leave you guys. We’re in this together… but… we… we also have to think about our strengths and weaknesses. I’m not rough and outdoorsy like you both. I have my books and I my plans. But they’re useless out there, in the cold river, where you have to struggle.” Sarah and Grace’s shoulders dropped. Knowing Dani was right.

She was a good leader, but she was slighter than them. Her books couldn’t teach her how to fish. She was still unable to shoot a gun. They needed muscles to pick at the rocks or tumble the dirt in the river. She carried less than the other two women and she would be unable to cover the same distances as them if they had to leave their horses behind. All the skills she needed to survive a wilderness full of bears and men with a lust for gold, were the ones that Sarah and Grace had in spades.

Even with all her qualities, Dani was not up for the damage it would cause in the long term to be wrong. If they didn’t strike gold due to a bad decision on her part, she knew it would mean more headaches. They had the comradery of the road now, but gold fever was starting to take hold as they kept getting closer to Dawson.

Before all they thought about was food.

Now all they can think about is gold.

Dani sighed. “You know I would only slow you down.” Sarah was the first to say that she wouldn’t.

“No, I need to stay in town. I can sew and cook and get you information to help. You both go out and prospect the different rivers, it doesn’t matter if we don’t strike it rich there… we will still be able to make a lot of money.”

All three of them went to bed thinking about what Dani had brought up.

**_//_ **

****

**_Dawson City, 1897_ **

//

  
The bustle of the city is beyond her wildest dreams. There are people everywhere. Laughing and talking about gold. There are places that have prices in flakes and nuggets.

As they walk by the Monte Carlo casino, they heard a man haggling with a woman for companionship. “I won’t go any lower than a pouch of gold dust. You know that Henry.”

**_//_ **

They head into Bombay Peggy’s. An inn full of men. Their heads turn around when they see Dani and Sarah. Not glancing twice at Grace. Thinking her to be one of them. Dani tucks away that information for later. It might be useful, for the men to know that they have a man taking care of them. Even if Sarah is probably the most dangerous out of the three when crossed.

**_//_ **

They stay the night, taking turns to wash themselves in the big bathtub.

Dani sighs with relief as the bubbles break and form again in the water. She wanted to bathe last. Luxuriate in the fact that she doesn’t have to share the bathwater with anyone. She leans back and dreams of ways that they can stay like this.

**_//_ **

****

**_Dawson City, 1898_ **

//

  
They have been in the Yukon for months now.

Dani stayed in the bunk house. Working there for room and board. She wakes up and asks the clerk for work. Going into the different rooms, taking in all the bedding and trading it for new linens.

The rest of the day she works at the tavern. A place called The Pit. Here she earns her wages in nuggets. She gets tips from men in flakes of gold. Sometimes a whole pouch of dust.

The owner lets her use their oven on Fridays. Where the rush of men come in and pay in gold for her pies. A whole tin for a couple of flakes. If they pay a nugget, they can have the pleasure of her company. She sits down and they talk. Some of them just want her to read to their table. They pool their gold and a hush falls over the tavern. Her voice is clear and true. Reading the most exciting headlines and making some of the men participate in guessing what happened to other prospectors they know, before she reads the rest of the story aloud.

Sometimes she writes letters for their family. The men in town take care of her because they know she is the only one that can read and write. Even if they don’t have gold, she reads their letters to them. Knowing how much it means to have news from home.

Too afraid to write her own letter. Opting instead to focus her flawless penmanship into news of the Yukon to other families.

**_//_ **

Dani misses Sarah and Grace. Whom she only visits once a month. She has the horses and the wagon with her. Takes them any supplies they need while charging some other women to ferry them back and forth. They also want to see their menfolk. They are willing to pay and get out and push the wagon when the mud is thick.

If they don’t want to pay for a ride, they can pay her to carry their packages out to them. Knowing that Dani will ask around and find them, even if they are not in the creek or river her family is in.

Dani likes this. Knowing that she is always making a little bit of money, no matter what she is doing. It makes the days pass faster. The longing subsides until she can pack up her wagon and make the trip to the creeks. With her trusty stick and her gang of women, she knows she safe.

**_//_ **

****

**_Outskirts of Dawson City, 1898_ **

//

  
Life in the camp reminds her why she was better off in town.

Dani loved the outdoors in the way they had traveled. With a wagon and supplies and dry tents.

Out here on the creek it is damp and muddy.

Much of the ground here in the Yukon is permanently frozen. This permafrost makes it hard to dig out. Sarah and Grace, like many of the prospectors that are working through the new year and winter months, have fires going all day. They need to melt the earth in a process called placer mining. The work is hard. They pick away at the dirt. Then they shovel everything into a pan. Hoping to see a flake or two. This will let them know if staking this claim was worth it.

**_//_ **

It’s February and the women decide that they should head back into town, sell their flakes and nuggets of gold and buy another claim. This time they want to pan Hunker or Independence. Last Chance Creek was a bit of a bust. They had found some gold, a lot of good mineralization, but not enough to make their effort worth it. Not when there were only two of them and they could sell that claim to men that could easily outwork them.

**_//_ **

To celebrate they decide to go on one of the steamboats that sail through the Yukon River. They might be able to spot a good place to prospect from there. Something that was out of the way but close enough that Dani could still bring them supplies and visit.

**_//_ **

****

**_Yukon River, 1898_ **

//

They laugh and smile. Waving at the men on the shore. A lot of them, regulars at The Pit or the bunk house Dani cleans. Off to see their favorite ray of sunshine. An unmarried woman that held their hearts. She was travelling with a young man and his mother, they guessed.

Just wanting an adventure.

They all stare and wish they could win her heart. Telling her that as soon as they have enough gold to pave the whole town, they would have champagne for breakfast, moose for lunch and caviar for dinner. That they would treat her right. Dani would blush and push their shoulders. Laughing and looking far off into the distance. They didn’t know that her heart was beating for someone else.

//

They stay outside, even with the biting cold hitting their faces.

Dani wonders if this is what dooms her. Being out there, in the open, with Sarah and Grace at her side.

At first she thinks she is mistaken. That it must be her imagination.

When she looks up again and sees anger and the barrel of a gun, she thinks about irony.

Irony was that her life would begin and end on a boat, with Dawson City as its final destination.

It was not the same boat, but the only one she had been since that day. Afraid of bumping into Gabriel. It took six months for Sarah and Grace to talk her into it.

A shot rings out and the whole deck panics.

The crowd inside the boat starts running blindly. Pushing up against each other and spilling onto the wooden deck. Before Dani can tell her companions what is happening, they are separated by a crowd of people.

She is so small and they are surrounding her. Trying to push as far away from the commotion inside as they can. Not knowing that the further they pressed into her, the more they were in danger.

//

There is shouting and people move as another shot rings out.

**_//_ **

****

**_Yukon River, 1898_ **

//

He could smell it. The fear. He closed his eyes and breathed it in. It was arousing. All this panic. This unbridled chaos. He was its master.

He smiled and shot for a third time. Hitting a random man.

He was nothing.

She. She was everything. And she was finally where he needed her. Cornered and nowhere to go.

He laughed as he shot another man in the back. Loving how his prey thought it could outsmart him. For almost a year, it had.

But he was a hunter. He would have his pound of flesh. And so much more.

The fifth round exited the chamber. Lodging itself into another stranger. Crowds parted for him. Some desperate souls plunged into the icy cold river. Its greedy grasp swallowing them whole and refusing to spit them out.

He laughed and stepped outside. Onto the deck. Moving slow. He was in no rush. The men in town had traded their guns for gold and gambling. Their vices meant he was the strongest man here.

Gabriel, his mother explained to him that his name meant “god is my strength.” For he was the best of the angels. The strongest of them all. A bringer of good news. He told all the religions, true and false ones, about the prophets and our lord and savior. And really, this is who he was. A savior of mankind. Trying to rid the world of filth and excess.

The lord would forgive him for partaking in that which is forbidden. For wanting to taste a fruit so sweet and unspoiled by other men.

//

“Daniela Ramos. Don’t hide now. You know that it will only upset me if you hide.”

He shot another man as he was jumping overboard and flicked his revolver open. Shells littering the wooden deck. As he loads each round, he thinks about the broken ribs and bones he had endured for letting this stupid little girl go.

He would not make the same mistake again.

A shot rings out and he stumbles forward. His leg aches. It was not dead center, more of a shot some amateur would take if they were handling a gun for the first time. One that was too heavy for them.

“Who says I am hiding? Pendejo.”

Gabriel shouts in anger and closes the half-loaded revolver. Aiming blindly behind him and hitting wood that splinters. Dani shouts and runs inside the newly emptied cabin.

//

“You are a stupid child.” He reminds her. Chasing down the stairs after her in a slow walk. Not out of pain. To prolong the pleasure of the hunt. His prey is stuck and without her friends. The end is inevitable.

“I am here to teach you how to be a woman. I will save you from that wretched tavern and those smelly bunk house rooms. I will make a good worker out of you.”

The engine room is hot. There are confused men shouting. Not knowing that they are giving him exactly what he needs as they point towards the back, complaining about some crazy woman.

“Thank you.” He tells them. Shooting at them.

Six bullets later, there is hot, half burned logs littering the whole place. The men had been unable to fully push them into the engines that would propel the paddles. This wood crackled as it ate away at the wooden floors.

Gabriel ignores this and keeps loading his revolver.

“Daniela, come out here. Let me show you what would have been your reward for staying with me.”

There is no answer.

The steam and crackling fire make it hard to hear anything.

He turns around and his face meets a hot shovel.

Gabriel shouts and holds his face. Melting parts of his hand onto the searing flesh. He shoots blindly. Angered by how this dove refused to let herself be soiled in the only way women could be useful.

There is groaning and the temperature rises.

Then water.

It starts off slow. And then it rushes inside. The ship must have run aground in the shallow waters.

//

He hears laden footsteps make their way up the metal staircase. He kneels down and shoves his face and hand in the icy cold water.

Enraged, he pushes himself up and follows. Water making his journey harder as he has to wade through it.

//

The boat is close enough to a shallow island in the middle of the Yukon that a lot of the passengers are making their way there.

Gabriel uses his good eye to look at them. Trying to quickly scan their faces for the woman he’s trying to find.

He is about to start again when he sees someone pointing towards the other edge of the river. Not the short mountain face made of dirt. The coastline with trees.

There, in the distance, he sees a small figure emerge from the river. Small and shaking. But most importantly, he notes, all alone.

“There you are.” He says as he takes a running leap and dives into the cold waters of the Yukon.

**_//_ **

****

**_Somewhere on the edge of the Yukon River, 1898_ **

//

Gabriel swims slower than Daniela. Although Diego and him would often go to the beach with her. They would stay on the shore and chat up girls as Daniela learned how to swim outside of a pool. She was a strong swimmer. He knew this. But he didn’t expect her to jump into the freezing waters to avoid him.

This whole plan should have worked without these complications. Daniela should have stayed rooted to her spot in fear. Gotten herself caught and then come back into town with him. He would claim her as his own and sell her off once he grew tired of her. Plenty of men would line up just because it was her.

Instead here he was. Following her into the woods. Down to his last six bullets.

He had not expected this much resistance.

//

Gabriel gets up and shivers involuntarily against the breeze. Making the waters logged clothes much colder than they had been in the river. If that had been possible.

While he tries to get his bearings, he shouts. Letting the younger woman know that he is right behind her.

“Come on out you wretch.” Instead of Dani falling at his feet, there was silence. It only served to show him how much he was needed in this world. To cleanse it from itself.

“Daniela, just like your brother before you, I will find you in the dark and I will slay you for being so disobedient.”

He expects more silence. Instead a shot rings and hits him right in the shoulder. He quickly fires off two rounds and Daniela yelps.

He smiles and heads in her direction.

//

This game of cat and mouse is interesting. Gabriel thrills at how, for someone that doesn’t know anything about the woods, she would be so willing to lead him deeper and deeper.

//

The sun is behind his back and he is shivering.

The game is no longer interesting. The woods echo and it is getting darker. His body is full of chills and he doesn’t know if that is the same rock and trees he had seen before.

Gabriel is about to sit down, putting down his good arm on a fallen log, when a shot rings out and hits him across the thigh.

“You miserable wretch.” He grunts in pain as he falls to the forest floor. Shooting randomly until the chamber is empty. Another shot rings out and this one hits him on the side.

Her shots are still off but getting better.

Gabriel laughs until he cries. Staring up at the trees. Feeling dizzy. There is movement amongst the trees and he lazily looks over to Daniela.

She is just a girl and he is just a boy.

They have no business being out here in the woods.

He looks up again and coughs. “They say it is darkest before dawn. But right now, in this sunny winter day… it feels pretty dark to me.”

The small girl makes her way over. She looks at him through the sights of her gun. He smiles. At peace. Ready for this whole thing to be over.

“It’s a good day to stare at the blue sky and the green trees, you know. It’s a good day to be out here in the wilderness. It’s a good day for a swim.” He tells her. “It really is a good day for a boat ride on a clear, blue river.” Gabriel laughs to himself as the dark blood pools around him. Moving so slow and spreading onto the ground. Mixing with the pine needles and grass.

“I guess… what I am trying to say, Daniela Ramos,” He tells her as he closes his eyes and grabs her gun. Letting the cold metal settle against his forehead. “is that it’s a good day to die.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking with this fic, even though it took forever to update it. I have the next chapter in the works. Which will be shorter. It does include a conclusion to our chase. From Dani’s perspective. And then we will see what happens after the women return to town. Expect more fluff and found family shenanigans, now that Chekhov’s gun has gone off, so to speak.


End file.
